Harvest Party

Emma's class had a harvest party at school today.  They could bring fruits or vegetables for snack time and dress like farmers or something similar.  Emma dresses as a cowgirl...

Emma's friend Aiden said to me, "I dressed as a cowboy because that's what we were supposed to be.  Emma dressed as a cowgirl.  [Sweet look on his face] We like each other."

Better not tell her Daddy that, little cowboy!

Halloween part I

In our town, we have two nights for trick-or-treating.  I'm not sure why that is, but this makes it possible for us to stay home for trick-or-treaters one night and take the kids out the other night.  Both nights involve costumes at our house, and are equally exciting.  So, our night before Halloween included the following:

Jack-o-lantern pizza

 Festive attire

 Waiting for trick-or-treaters

 

 Waiting IN costume

 Samuel trying to decide just what he would be (he's been going back and forth between two costumes for the last few weeks)

 And  a visit from some good friends who came by just for some candy!

 Oh yes, and we finally got out the walker for Lucas- he LOVES it!

 

Halloween hand-me-down

Someone gave us the Halloween inspired onsie Emma is wearing in the picture below.  She was just 4-months-old when we sat her on big brother Nathan's lap to take this picture.  She was a tiny little thing and this was a larger size than she was, but we rolled up the sleeves and put her in it anyway.

Three years later we put it on then 6-month-old Samuel and placed him in Emma's lap...

 Now, another two years down the road our 9-month-old Lucas is wearing the very same onsie and it fits him just fine!  He's sitting beside big brother Samuel (we tried having Samuel hold him, but Lucas is so big that we could barely see Samuel behind him)!

 Now, full circle with the baby in the first picture holding the last baby of ours to wear the Halloween hand-me-down.

  
To my sweeties who are not all so little anymore... 

Pumpkin "decorating"

We don't just carve our pumpkins around here, we decorate them!  Daddy always carves at least one pumpkin- traditionally with a face that Nathan designs, but it is up to the kids what they want to do with their own.  Some years they've painted them, last year some used stickers, and this year Emma and Samuel wanted Mr. Potato Head pieces to decorate theirs, while Nathan carved his own!  However we do it, pumpkin decorating is always a favorite part of this season!

 Nathan carving his pumpkin

 Samuel LOVES his pumpkin!

 Emma and her Princess Pumpkin

 Lucas mainly wanted to eat his:

 

Lucas's and his pumpkin

Samuel picked a pumpkin for Lucas from the pumpkin patch. Really, it was for himself until he saw the dirt on it, so when he found a different one we decided this one would make a good Lucas pumpkin. Lucas agreed! I sat him in the yard the other day to let him check it out, dirt and all. He really liked it! He surprised me by picking it up and holding it himself, and not so surprisingly tried to eat it (note the dirt on his face). 

Ant Farm

Nathan's ants arrived over the weekend so we now have an ANT FARM! We all gathered around the table to watch Nathan and Daddy get everything set up and slide the ants in. Now every day we check to see if they have made new paths and now and then we give them a tiny morsel of food (or candy corn like we did today). 

REAL

Pumpkin Farm field trip!

Emma's class had a field trip to a pumpkin farm on Friday.  It began as a very chilly morning but turned into a beautiful fall day.  The highlights were the wagon ride to the pumpkin patch to pick any pumpkin we wanted, hot chocolate, the corn maze, and running around playing with lots of friends.  We all had a great time!

One of many slides Samuel went down

Lucas, all bundled up

Enjoying the wagon ride

pumpkin hunting

Samuel's first love...

He later decided it was "too dirty" as were all the others he picked up. 

Emma had no trouble finding the perfect pumpkin!

Well, if they are all dirty, then this big green one will have to do!

Random

Some recent pictures...

What do you make with an orange cake mix... a pumpkin cake of course!

TEETHING!

PEEK!

Awww, a hug

Yes, there is a cucumber in his stroller... he IS a big Veggie Tales fan...

Emma and Grandma did a special sewing project together
(a first for Emma!)

Lucas has begun to stand unassisted for a few seconds at a time

And earned the temporary nickname "scar face" from his frequent falls:

Samuel has also recently been introduced to stickers, as in "sticker book".  He is in LOVE!

 

Cutie pie thinks books are pretty cool

Emma is growing up way too fast...

And the leaves are really beginning to change, FALL is here!